PICID.E. ' 333 



their soft tail is not strong enougli to support tliem 

 in climbing, altliougli tliey make tlieir nests in 

 lioles in an old tree trunk. 



The type of tliis sub -family — 



The Wryneck ( Yicnx torquilla), a pretty little bird, 

 about the size of a lark, is a summer visitor to our island ; 

 but though common in the southern and eastern counties, 

 it is very rare in the north and west ; and in Ireland, we 

 believe, it is never seen. It arrives in this country in 

 April, a few days before the appearance of the Cuckoo ; 

 and its loud cry of peep I 2)^^P • V^^V • monotonously 

 repeated, is first heard when the leaves of the elm-tree 

 are as large as a silver sixpence. Groves, orchards, and 

 woods are the favourite resorts of the Wryneck, as also 

 the lines of tall beech-trees along hedge-rows. Ants are its 

 favourite food, and in search of them it traverses the 

 trunks of trees, examining every crevice, and picking 

 them up by means of its long worm-like tongue. In search 

 of its insect prey it also visits the ground, where it hops 

 and walks with considerable facility, searcliing for the nests 

 of ants ; and it is astonishing to see with what rapidity 

 it devours its tiny victims, launching its long tongue at 

 them, and withdrawing it so rapidly that the eye can 

 scarcely follow its movements. Col. Montague informs 

 us, that having captured a female Wryneck, which he con- 

 fined for some days in a cage, he was enabled to watch 

 its manners very minutely. "A quantity of mould with 

 emmets and their eggs was given to it, and it was curious 

 to see how the tongue was darted forth and retracted 

 with such velocity, and such unerring aim, that it never 

 rc^turned without an ant or an *d^^^ adhering to it, — not 

 transferred by the horny point, as some have imagined, 

 but retained by a peculiar tenacious moisture provided 

 for the purpose. While feeding, the body is motionless, 

 the head only is turned to every side, and the motion of 

 the tongue is so rapid that an ant's ^gg^ which is of a light 

 colour, and more conspicuous than the tongue, has some- 

 what the appearance of moving to the mouth by attrac- 

 tion, as a needle flies to a magnet. The bill is rarely 

 used, except to remove the mould in order to get more 

 readily at these insects. Where the earth is hollow, the 

 tongue is thrust into all the cavities to arouse the ants, 

 Q 3 



